Shadid was a veteran correspondent, working for the AP, the Boston Globe, and the Washington Post before moving to the NYT in 2010. Last year, he and three colleagues were captured in Libya by government forces and held for several days before being released. In 2002, he was shot while reporting in Ramallah. The NYT says that Shadid's fatal asthma attack was prompted by his allergy to horses, triggered by a reporting trip into Syria with guides on horseback.